RIP Irrfan Khan: Before films, did you know he gave up a career in cricket because he couldn’t afford a Rs 200 ticket?

Before Irrfan Khan took the film industry by storm, he was gearing up to be a cricketer and was even selected in a tournament.

The tragic demise of the phenomenally talented Irrfan Khan has sent shockwaves across the globe. The 53-year-old actor breathed his last at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Wednesday, after being admitted for a colon infection a day earlier. He was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018.

Irrfan Khan wanted to become a cricketer before he became an actor. (AFP)

Before Irrfan made it big in films, he was training to be a cricketer. On the chat show Son of Abish in 2017, he had said that though he was ‘good’, his career as a sportsperson came to a premature end because of lack of funds.

Irrfan told host and comedian Abish Mathew that he was an all-rounder but preferred batting over bowling. “My captain liked my bowling, so he made me a bowler. I don’t know. He used to tell me, ‘Throw me a nice one…’ I used to just throw the ball and somehow used to get a couple of wickets,” he said.

Irrfan was forced to give up on his cricket dreams when he could not afford a ticket to travel to Ajmer for the tournament. “When I was selected, the team had to travel from Jaipur to Ajmer, and I needed Rs 200-250. I couldn’t arrange for it. So that day, I realised that I couldn’t pursue this,” he said.

The cricket world’s loss became the film industry’s gain. Irrfan went on to straddle a successful career in Bollywood as well as Hollywood, working in films such as Piku, The Lunchbox, Slumdog Millionaire, Maqbool and Inferno.

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